Since taking office, President Trump has signaled in interviews and tweets that he seeks to “strengthen and expand the nuclear arsenal,” and would be comfortable with a new nuclear arms race. At the same time, he has also expressed a desire to make a deal with Russia on nuclear reductions.

This briefing will cover what we know about Trump’s plans for U.S. nuclear weapons policy, Congress’s role in nuclear weapons policy formulation, and what’s possible in the current context of soured U.S.-Russia relations, Russia’s violation of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty, triad sustainment and recapitalization plans that will cost $400 billion the next 10 years and $1 trillion over 30 years, and the other global dynamics that impact what the U.S. can achieve.

About the Panel Speakers:

Amy Woolf, Specialist in Nuclear Weapons Policy, Congressional Research Service. Amy provides Congress with information and analysis on issues related to U.S. and Russian nuclear forces and arms control. She has addressed such topics as nuclear weapons strategy and doctrine and force structure, the U.S-Russian arms control agenda, ballistic missile defense policy, and threat reduction and nonproliferation programs in the former Soviet Union. Before joining CRS, Ms. Woolf was a member of the Research Staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) in Alexandria, Virginia. She also spent a year at the Department of Defense, working on the 1994 Nuclear Posture Review. Ms. Woolf received a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1983 and a BA in Political Science from Stanford University in 1981

Jon is the former Special Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs and senior director at the National Security Council for arms control and nonproliferation. Before that, he was Deputy Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies in Monterey. He joined Monterey after having been Special Advisor to Vice President Joseph R. Biden for nuclear security and nonproliferation and as a director for nonproliferation on the National Security Council from 2009-2012. During his time in Government he was involved in almost every aspect of U.S. nuclear weapons, arms control, nonproliferation and security policy. He helped negotiate and secure the ratification of the New START arms reduction agreement with the Russian Federation, and helped support the development of nuclear policy including through the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review and other elements of the Obama Administration's security policies. He was previously a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and deputy director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He served in several capacities during the 1990s at the U.S Department of Energy, including an on-the- ground assignment in North Korea during 1995-96.

Erica Fein, Nuclear Weapons Policy Director, Women’s Action for New Directions. Erica works with Congress, the executive branch, and the peace and security community on arms control, nonproliferation, and Pentagon and nuclear weapons budget reduction efforts. Previously, Erica served as a legislative assistant to Congressman John D. Dingell where she advised on national security, defense, foreign policy, small business, and veterans’ issues. Erica holds a M.A in International Security from the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies and a B.A. in International Studies from University of Wisconsin - Madison. She is a political partner at the Truman National Security Project. Erica can be found on Twitter @enfein.